Under a late change proposal for Fedora 30, the DNF package manager's "best" mode might be enabled by default.

The --best option for DNF always tries to upgrade to the highest version available even if dependencies cannot be satisfied. While it may make sense for DNF to always try going for the latest and greatest package version which is in line with most other Linux package managers, the current behavior aims for the latest version where all package dependencies can be satisfied. If a newer package version is available but with unmet dependencies, the current default DNF behavior will silently ignore that newer version.

By enabling the DNF best mode by default, the user will be alerted to the fact a newer package version is available but it can't satisfy the dependencies. DNF best will "fail early and fail fast" should problems occur so the user can know. Fedora developers are seeking to make this default change in case a package upgrade for a security fix can't be made due to dependency problems, under the current premise it could be silently ignored and the user wouldn't be aware. Additionally, using the DNF best mode will alert developers quickly to problems in upgrade paths.

A --nobest option for DNF will be available to override the default behavior, among other DNF options for turing off this mode. But this change for Fedora 30 would be coming late in the cycle and the Fedora Engineering and Steering Committee has yet to sign off on the page. Early feedback on the proposal is in favor of this new default.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 10,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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